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Quick Review

Lesson 23 from: Pricing and Sales for Photographers

Julia Kelleher

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Lesson Info

23. Quick Review

Lesson Info

Quick Review

We're going to talk today about policies, but first I want to at least do a quick review of what we discussed yesterday so it's in her head when you go over this information more than once it helps you solidify it and I know you guys have been just I mean, I have literally vomited information on you for the last two days and so I can understand how just the smell alone would be overwhelming but it was a bad analogy wasn't e I guess that brings the point home and I want to ask you a couple questions and those out there on the online world I want to ask you this too what what p are you going to implement right away what do you think you can just take ahold of right now and go home monday morning. Start in your studio one time yeah felisha, I have monday to buddha y ones and there's have like a family portrait one someone changed how do everything when I get home tomorrow so you excited about it? Yeah, hoping it let's you know call me if it makes a difference. I know that's awesome. What ...

about you, stephanie? Pricing for sure of your pricing collection? I think that's great and it's easy to implement no matter what products that you have so it's something that you can put in a place like right away, so not quite sure of the numbers yet, so you have to do a little research, and I did download the excel spreadsheet last night, so I'm going to go through that and see good I can find the link is in the workbook and the work. What, did you have a chance to play with it all yet? Play? Well, not yet. I looked at it and saw it, but I wasn't in numbers mode. I just wanted to have it. So when I, the rare occasion when I am in numbers e can't get there good, good, I know, and some and just be for warned that you'll play with those numbers, and no kind of they will start to make sense to you, and you'll realize, ok, I have to make this number of average, but I can always up the number of sessions I want that just means more marketing, more client acquisition, so be realistic in that number. I mean, really, ask yourself, how many sessions of my doing a month now. So what does that mean? My average needs to be, and then eventually you're session. Numbers will grow over time as you do more marketing, and word of mouth starts to go on, and then you can start adjusting your numbers, but start at that place don't say I'm gonna be doing ten sessions a month no problem getting ten centers in a month is not the easiest thing in the world to do I mean that's a reasonable number for you to do as a zoo a owner but getting that many in the door consistently every single month is not easy so be realistic in that number in particular when you when you do that spreadsheet okay yeah that's the tricky part though if you're not getting those numbers I can't have a five thousand dollar average that's a little unrealistic well is it is it well maybe not but now I'm thinking about products to like that you are you're a deck old edge float mountain wanted heller paper print just was so beautiful and I would love to find a way to make it make it my own with my style and I have a couple of ideas and maybe a medal print there too for a little edgier steel like an artist man feel like an artist just stupidity austin thank you austin clans words I feel like an artist yeah susan's or something oh yeah we just want to bring in some comments from the interment internet so dark room junkie and said the pre consultation good so that's a big one it's huge uh daniel london's london said that's an easy question purpose I really need to get in touch with my wife what do you know and sanchez same thing I'm going to implement my purpose and are from maryland says pricing and product and person purchase purpose each is huge each is huge each is huge but you know what that can be really overwhelming to think about I mean especially if you're kind of you this is all new information to you thinking about all five piece and then encompassing purpose and each one of those I mean that's like oh overwhelming make you want to go hide in a corner kind of stuff so just take it one little and that's why I'm asking you which p for you is going to be the easiest one to implement monday morning because just take it one thing at a time just okay this week I'm going to really focus on pre consultations and I'm going to just hone in on that process and make it so easy you'll beat my clients over the head with it audio visual kinetic you know make them touch see do and that alone will just change that one process and then when you see the results from that you'll start to work on the next p and the next and the next I mean this took me years to figure out and develop and perfect and I still don't have it perfect I mean I dropped the ball all the time you guys I mean there's times when that one client that everything just goes wrong with and you know you screwed up I mean it happens to all of us, so don't be hard on yourself if this thing doesn't happen right away but once it does it's going to do a lot to alleviate your your mind and it's going to help you feel like you've got a good business that's on a track two success what aboutyou arena what did you what have you which pierre you're goingto well, I want to focus on a couple things pricing because before I came over here I don't know what to do with my price and I don't talk to my husband a lot about it and what should I do? I don't want to be that cheap photographer who sells only digital files I want to be kind of an elite photographer and people come and they exposed expect more from me not just digital files but and that's why I want to include product in my collections and this is not a p I want I want I want to work on it and I also was impressed with your presentation off the product you have I like the idea ofthe displaying the same image in different sizes and also put, like used the photos from my client's homes and show them the size ofthe the image on their wall and how it's going to look and so I want all those ideas implementing my business and I like also the albums you, kate, how it is it is to create for your albums for the climb so like, I'm overwhelmed right now e o things, yeah, yeah, but the price and probably is the priority for me is exciting. I could create all different collection. Yeah. Thie cheap photographer with offering on the digital files is it exciting? T excited? Are you are you that excited? Yeah, well, I'm scared because I I want to raise my prices and always scary thing if I'm going to write find those right clients, but I still want to be profitable because I looked on the my spreadsheet he showed up here is expensive and it's like I didn't think about all of it apples before it's like crazy and it is scary it's with her and I want to thank my friend michelle panero for providing that spreadsheet she's the one who did it and it's been around for a while. I know she's no longer in the photography business, but it's been so valuable to me and I'm so thankful she was willing to share that with you guys and I hope it helps a lot of people, what about you, zoe, what pierre, you're going toe pop out next week I'm going to stick with purpose because everything comes out of that, yeah, and really go through my portfolio and jump into what I really want to be doing instead of worrying about everything and being scared. Yeah, because you I I love my fine artwork. I love drawing. I love painting and there's no reason I can't bring that to my client. There is no reason you can't and I that's really exciting, you know? What was it? I think the quotas on my facebook page was it got john quincy adams, who said perseverance and passion have a way of making obstacles disappear and difficulty subside, something like that and it's really true and so many people in the world no coma makeup artist over here, and I were talking about this in the makeup room this morning, and, you know, there are so few people in the world who really fall down and get up every single time they get up every single time, no matter how dirty they get, no matter how bruised and bump they get, no matter how many broken bones they have, they always stand up and keep pushing. Perseverance is the one quality that if you have it, you have to succeed, I mean, really think about it if you just keep pushing and of course there's a difference between blind pushing and just, you know, being a bull about it and not watching where you're going and thinking about things and analyzing and reassessing and changing you know, you got it you got to try not to fall but if you do fall the people who truly have perseverance and recognized that sometimes those falls are the best way to learn how not to fall again those are the ones who excel I mean abraham lincoln okay, which president was he? I don't know I was here he wasn't our second rosy now while he's in the I feel bad so picture I don't know anyway abraham lincoln wonderful president civil civil war guy he ran for congress so many times and never was elected and he kept getting up justin himself off and finally after failed election after failed election he became presidents country and was one of the leading presidents of our time successful truly successful people are the ones who do not give up. So if that's, any message that I wantto give to you guys is yes, we're talking about pricing and sales in business, but if you could just weren't warn one p out of this and that is perseverance don't quit okay let's review yesterday projection sales anything that stood out to you in it was appointment I asked you to think about body language wording approach things the client said. What did you hear? Did you hear any objections? Did you hear any things that might have made you go? Oh, I don't know what I'm going to say that if someone poses that question to me internet same thing at you answer this question. Did you see anything in that appointment that made you worry a little bit that made you think, oh, that's, a solution to my problem? Talk to me. I was really impressed by the way you show them the product and kind of cozy it up to them and asked them how you would like to take care of it and did actually asking for the money. Because this is a transaction and that's where I kind of get stuck it's hard to ask for seventeen hundred dollars. It is hard. And I still to this day, I still get a little bit like, okay, we're gonna take care of this today. You know, you talk about in your hearts and there's gotta fake it till you make it so good. Anything else, you guys? I was impressed with the way you let them tow the amount of money you want them to spend, basically shown them that with this collection, they're going to get this, but this is not enough. If you pay a little bit more money, you get these and these and these and that's where you want them to be. Yeah, so that was impressive for me because I, uh I don't do that, and usually people goto the cheapest package and there's a way to show them that for a little bit more money, they can s o much value toe there. Yeah, like to their burden, but at the same time, doing it in a soft way, yes says, hey, let me just throw out your options for you in case you don't see it, you're welcome to go any direction you like, but I want to point this out to you so you don't miss out that's, basically, what I'm saying and actually I talked them down. Do you remember? Because they were they were wanting an album and a wall siri's and the digital remember that? And so that was two art products and the digital files and create a collection, and so I said, well, you know, if you're and they were they were having and hawing about what image to put on the wall they just couldn't decide I mean this happens all the time in the sales appointment I'm sure you guys have had the same issue yourself and so I don't want to sit there for hours on end and wait while they decide which image to put and that it's just too agonizing on them and the sales appointment is not enjoyable for them so I pushed him I said well if you get the large files then you can print the wall portrait on your own you can go home and figure out which image you like the best and take your time with it have us do the album the thing that you are not able to do or don't have the time to do and just get the digital files the larger ones and that will give you the freedom later and they went oh yeah I just talked myself out of an extra five or six hundred dollars of that wall sale but I also shorten my timeframe I mean my client happy they felt relaxed and calm not having to quote decide on everything today and it all worked out happily for a client that walked out the door with a smile on their face so I actually talked down from twenty five hundred dollars sale to an eighteen hundred dollar sale which I'm perfectly happy with. I'd rather have a happy client than a ridiculously huge sale that took a struggle and an unhappy client to get does that make sense? Okay, anything any ideas from the internet let's talk really quickly about that before we move on I know I asked a question I don't want you don't want to drop it yeah so dawn from new york says I really liked the idea of making the lowest package the least valuable I was feeling bad about offering too little in the first in that first package you don't want him to buy the first one yeah that's great I'm glad that people are taking that out on a lot of people photographers will put that lowest package at their happy place at that average that they need because then you're almost guaranteed to get your average or more it takes a little guts to do that but it's you know and then they'll put a decent amount of value in there so that the client can get the average. But for me, like I told my story yesterday with the with the hospital display and not getting any response from it I had to up here less expensive even though my prices didn't change I just had to restructure things and market the pricing different so that people looked at it and goes, oh yeah, we can afford that it's expensive but we can afford that okay, so I was talking to the coma this morning makeup artist I said sometimes it's not a matter when there's a problem in your business don't automatically assume that you're doing something wrong okay don't let george beat the crap out of you okay? Ask yourself okay, is it the market? What am I not what parameter about this? Am I not examining closely enough? And for me I wasn't looking at my target demographic well enough I wasn't evaluating their financial situation and realizing that they were not at the height of their careers, they couldn't afford this, so that was what was turning them off because the entry point looks like it was a thousand dollars so just simply by re marketing my pricing it made a huge difference I didn't lower my prices, I just made it look different, okay, so but, you know, normally had I been in a different place I would go no, I stalk what's wrong with me, I can't make a business run no one likes me my work sucks etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, but, you know, bless my sister's heart talking to her multiple nights on the phone with tears in my eyes, wondering if I was ever going to make it as a photographer, you know you've got all these catastrophic thinking in your head and you start to I fear the worst, etcetera, etcetera, she says that down with me and really analyzed it. And I really encourage each and every one of you to get together with people in your community, other photographers. And it just angers me so much that there's so much competition, bickering, well, a little out there between photographers, and you're all afraid you're going to steal each other's business and it's. So not true, you're not going. Teo thes people are your cheerleaders. They can help you.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Complete Vendor Marketing Bundle
Julia's Studio Resource List

Free Downloads

6Ps of Selling - Get Started Kit

Ratings and Reviews

a Creativelive Student
 

This was the first class I have ever purchased from CreativeLive in the 6 months I've had it and watched as I could. With a toddler and six yr old on top of a hubby serving overseas I was attempting to watch ten minutes of this when my toddler just wasn't allowing me to watch haha. After just a few minutes I had already told myself if that had happened it would be okay because I was won over already. I knew I not only needed to buy this because there was no other way I could watch it, but it was something I knew would be the BEST investment EVER! Pricing & Sales has been something even my amazing photography group has kept somewhat hush hush and I was dreading the $150-200 for a course in person not knowing if it'd have everything I needed and let's face it, I do this part-time and my husband is military so we didn't have much to throw in the way of me learning more since I'm obviously already upside down with my 'business' haha. This has been so incredibly worth it and if there were ever a course I would buy and recommend to anyone ever again it would be this one. You are so amazingly smart and talented Julia and if CreativeLive had not done this webinar I would have never learned about you this way and learned such valuable information that I cannot wait to implement in my business. Also for any moms wondering, it's worth the cost not just to pause and continue with munchkins throughout the day but it is the best thing you can buy that has so many different tips and ideas to help save your business from becoming a hobby again which mine was about to haha. Thank you so much again for this!!!

a Creativelive Student
 

Okay, I've finally watched this course all the way through and can review it. I wasn't able to watch the live broadcast but the topic was one that I really wanted to learn more about so I decided to purchase it without watching. I will be watching it again as there are great nuggets of information. Julia presents some wonderful insights about the art and psychology of pricing, how to deal with difficult clients and even a bit of in person sales. I liked Julia's take on how she packages her products so that she can reach and beat her sales goal. Those were all great tips! For the most part I liked this course but I wish a few things had been done differently. Because I am not a newborn photographer, and this wasn't a newborn class, it wasn't useful to me to see a newborn shoot - even though I know the point of that was to show how Julia plants the seed of the sale. But I feel that time could have been better spent demonstrating a pre-session consultation and what to discuss with clients, how to overcome objections, etc. The pre-session consultation is a big part of the pricing and sales process but I felt like it was glossed over. Julia talked a bit about how she has clients fill out a form on her website after the consultation to reinforce what she's explained to them. These are all things I would have liked more in-depth information on because they are crucial to the sales process. The in person sales session also went pretty fast - the couple was super quiet so I guess that made things much easier. The materials that came with the course have a lot more to do with marketing your studio through displays and gift certificates. They are beautiful templates - but again, I purchased this class to learn sales and pricing and would have really hoped to see materials related to the sales or pricing process - her client questionnaire, responses to common objections, her list of studio policies as it relates to sales, usage of images, etc. Also, one of the items in the bundle requires signing up for her email list. I don't mind - I just don't expect to do that if I bought a course that should have those materials included. That's my take on the good an the bad - just my opinion.

Jennifer Koskinen
 

Seriously? Where to start! I stumbled upon this, my first CreativeLIVE course, and ended up purchasing it I loved it so much and know it will provide not only great tips as I restructure some of my own business, but also endless inspiration for taking things to the next level. Gratitude ABOUNDS for Julia's candor, adorable personality, humility and willingness to share the "tough" lessons, as well as her unbridled passion and respect for the business of photography... On a more personal note, she introduced me to the concept of separating our inner critic from ourselves and calling him "George." Pure brilliance. Hands down THE best life skills tool I've ever heard in a photography workshop!! THANK YOU, Julia and CreativeLive!!

Student Work

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